


happier

by rippedjuns



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst with a Happy Ending, But she received it in like December whoops, Established Relationship, Hermit Crab!Wonwoo, I will explain if need be, M/M, Mermen!Gyuhui, Present for my friend Gladys, Prince Merman!Jeonghan, Prince!Minghao, There was a picture of a hermit crab with a beanie-like shell and immediately thought of Wonwoo, There’s A LOT of made up words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 00:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15328179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rippedjuns/pseuds/rippedjuns
Summary: “i don’t want the prince,” mingyu moaned, his hand leaving a crimson mark on his cheek from leaning on it in sorrow. “not when i already found my king.”mingyu messed up massively, and now all he can do is watch his junhui live a happier life on land without him.





	happier

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in like december as a christmas present for my friend gladys, but it’s one of my favourite works of mine ig? hopefully you guys enjoy it!
> 
> ((might still be a couple of mistakes whoopsie))
> 
> recommended song - happier by ed sheeran

like always, he was awestruck.

how couldn’t he be?

knowing the young boy for all of his years, and then experiencing the miracle of being his. it could all be described as a dream.

the way their hands just simply locked into place when intertwined, the way their tails spiralled around one another’s, the way their lips were just made for each other. it was as if they were soulmates, two boys completely destined to fall for one another. it was fate, and mingyu liked fate.

the warmth of his hands in the cold water, the soft stomach that would act as a cushion when desired, the arms that could pull him closer and hold him there, the sparkle in his eyes mirroring the stars in the star at eleven o clock. or maybe the sky was mirroring his eyes. copycat.

junhui was mingyu’s all. he was the one mingyu desperately wanted to marry. described as a god from the mouth of the younger, mingyu’s parents had agreed for the two mermen to become bonded for life, in order for them to live together and stay stuck with the latter forever. mingyu wanted no one else at all - with the exception of wonwoo, but he was a hermit crab, so he was more of a friend...or a guidance counsellor - no one but junhui.

but it didn’t seem that way for junhui.

on eleven o clock, on a fateful day in december, junhui had been caught swimming towards the sacred lair of jisquid (better known as joshua, but the odd kid demanded to be called ‘jisquid’). unfortunately, the boy had made to the sea wizard in time to explain everything, and for the spell to be casted.

it turns out that junhui wanted more than the ocean life, and he wanted to be a part of the human world. he didn’t even warn mingyu.

sooner than he thought, junhui had been gifted with two legs (and a pair of boxers), with the consequence of not being able to touch water. if so, he would permanently become a merman again.

he had taken the opportunity, and mingyu didn’t even know that mermen could cry until he did.

he could create a whole new ocean with the number of tears that he had shedded that day.

his one and only. washed away.

from that day onwards, mingyu watched from the rock that displayed a flawless view of the shore, and the castle that lazed across the horizon. it was beige, the roof of burgundy melting from the tips of the towers. it was wide, probably filled will marble floorings - like the chips that fell down to the seabed. they probably used the pronged dinglehopper to brush their hair like mingyu did, and then a thingamabob that reflects the beholder to hit various things like mingyu does. large pains of transparent materials cling to the outer walls, being magnetically separated at last when pushed with force. it sounded a lot like mingyu to junhui. he sighed.

talking about junhui, someone who looked quite similar strolled through the open hole in the bricks, alongside another young man. both wore golden whatsits, encrusted with several jewels that caught the sunlight in its vertices. mingyu has a couple of those whatsits in his grotto. he and junhui used to wear them and swim about with them on, the items rewarding them with some sort of superiority when placed upon their heads.

he wondered whether junhui used the dinglehoppers to brush his hair still, and whether he used the thingamabob to rally with who ever he met. he wondered whether junhui would ever again wear a whatsits, or whether he would be wearing it himself. he sighed again.

“hey man, don’t be so grumpy.” wonwoo nudged mingyu’s arm with his claw, the temptation to pinch the merman itching at his shell.

“he’s gone, won.” a tear dribbled from his eye unintentionally, “gone...forever.”

“it’s gonna be okay though!” grinning, wonwoo tried to pull mingyu out of his romantic depression. “there’s still many other fish in the sea for you, gyu. think! you can try for the prince jeonghan now! he’s a charmer, and the word around says he has his eye on you~!”

“i don’t want the prince,” mingyu moaned, his hand leaving a crimson mark on his cheek from leaning on it in sorrow. “not when i already found my king.”

mingyu hardly ever left that rock. wonwoo had to pinch the younger - even draw blood - to bring him back home. why was he so keen on staying at that spot? because of the hope in his heart that his eyes would crash into junhui‘s one someday soon. he would wait it out. he would do anything for junhui.

day after day, night after night. mingyu grew hungry, but he would be full when he meets junhui again. mingyu was tired, but he would only sleep when junhui was in his arms. mingyu was upset, but only junhui’s warm vocals could make the younger smile. it was harrowing for wonwoo, watching his best friend wither away on that rock in the waiting for just a small sighting of his true love.

when he first saw junhui again, the older didn’t even recognise him. didn’t even acknowledge of his existence. striding down the seafront, his fingers were tangled with another man’s, his arms were curled around another man’s waist, his lips were sealed with another man’s own. he heard shouts of this man’s name. minghao. but they were ecstatic shouts. shouts of joy. shouts of love. they were shouts that mingyu was all too familiar with, ones that would cause his heart to skip one too many beats, or automatically lift his mouth corners into the shape of a smile.

now this minghao was getting that gorgeous feeling. damn, he was a lucky boy.

and junhui was wearing a whatsit as he kissed this minghao.

oh how mingyu wished to shove that kid out of the way and press his plump lips onto junhui’s cracked own.

but his damn tail restricted him from doing so.

who was the selfish one here? was it junhui for running away without a word? or was it mingyu for wanting to deprive junhui of exploration for his own romantic desires? love was complicated.

every day and night at eleven o clock, it seemed to be that the couple would take a short walk down the beach, intriguing the merman even more. was junhui trying to tug and break his heart even more?

the way he skips in front of minghao, spinning around in the moonlight and sun, giggling in his spotlight. the way he runs up to minghao and jumps into his arms, being swept off of his feet, and soaring like a bird. the way they would roll about on the sand, drawing pictures to symbolise their love, despite junhui knowing that it would get washed away in around half an hour.

what this minghao really worth junhui running away? especially with the older knowing that he left mingyu to piece together his heart-shaped puzzle?

when wonwoo did manage to drag mingyu back home, mingyu couldn’t bare to even glance at the grotto. every antique reminded him of them, seeing as they discovered it together.

like the cobbledobs, which they would arrange coral in to display on the shelves of the grotto.

like the knickerbickers, which they would use to saw open different shells with its sonorous points and edges.

like the rumbledows, which they would place many smaller valuables inside. including the ring that mingyu had planned to present junhui with.

that day was supposed to be the day after junhui left. the ring hasn’t left its spot since.

all these objects would sprout memories of the older in mingyu’s head, causing the only two places he would resign in being his bedroom and the sandy rock. concerned, his parents offered comfort and reassurance, explaining to him once he’s gotten to know someone like prince jeonghan (for example), he would forget junhui ever existed. but it wasn’t that simple, he would always rage back.

he felt a connection between him and junhui. a spark. a bond. a piece of string. no one person, not even this minghao boy, could cut the string. not even if you brought along the sharpest pair of snappers, and gave them to the strongest weightlifter on earth, you still wouldn’t be able to cut the string. their love was impossible to split. mingyu felt as if a section of him was missing without junhui by his side, and his heart yearns to know whether the older felt the same.

the days seemed endless as he awaited junhui to notice him. the fins of his tail grazed against the passing waves, which reached the shore and had a better chance of seeing junhui than mingyu ever did. shivering as a gust of wind drifted over his torso, he was determined to stay out on the rock, even if the weather conditions became horrendous. he needed junhui back. he would do absolutely anything to have the boy back in his arms.

he had done wrong, obviously. merpeople can get drunk on their own alcohol, and it just so happened to be that junhui was sober. when he swam into the grotto, he didn’t spot the floating cups, and the cracked bottle of exotic wine shattered across the floor. all his eyes could focus on was mingyu kissing another merman, hands caressing bodies. something snapped within junhui, as he observed mingyu drawing circles on seokmin’s chest instead of his, as mingyu stroked seokmin’s cheek instead of his, as mingyu knotted up seokmin’s hair instead of his. only noises similar the cracklings of a broken record could pass through junhui’s trembling lips, and he couldn’t bear it anymore. he didn’t have the physical strength to knock the other merman out, but he had the mental strength to walk away and cut ties. it wasn’t worth the pain. he wasn’t worth the pain.

but mingyu felt pain. for he didn’t even know that he kissed anyone but junhui that night. he didn’t even realise that he got himself drunk.

he carried on watching their strolls, their smiles twice as wide as his and junhui’s when they were still together. he considers them broken now, seeing as he feels that pitted feeling in his stomach, like what he would imagine an oyster would feel like when it’s pearl is stolen away from them. each footstep they took crushed another piece of mingyu’s shattered heart. crashed and burnt, beneath their feet.

although, whenever he looked at minghao, as the days passed and turned into weeks, something within the human boy seemed to fade. he looked more like a fatigued school student doing homework rather than a kid in love. he never flashed his teeth - which used to eat the energy of the sun, and beamed its rays back at the world through them. he smirked more than smiled, seeming to be thinking more than talking. enthusiasm had been drained from the human boy, marking the boy with his maroon irises as the older (mingyu assumed) admired simple human objects. he probably thought junhui was an idiot as he was awestruck over things like fire, and badges, and shirts, and a hairbrush - just like how mingyu was awestruck when he beheld the older boy - but to junhui, these items were treasures he would’ve stored in the grotto (the grotto part being pushed to the back of his mind, in avoidance of the face of kim mingyu popping into his brain). he would’ve adorn over these for hours upon end. minghao didn’t have those eyes that mingyu noticed that he himself owned when he saw junhui, especially under the sun’s spotlight. those eyes that shape your pupils into a heart, and blur out the background to focus only upon the beauty. the main subject. wen junhui.

was it possible that minghao was falling out of love with junhui?

is it even possible to use those words in a sentence together?

apparently, notwithstanding, it was actually possible.

this supposed national sweetheart that wonwoo heard junhui talking about to others on the seafront just so happened to be a reckless playboy. one who plays with people’s hearts as if they were chew toys. junhui just so happened to be one of his victims. buttered up to be the love of his life, and then bulldozed down to smithereens in a matter of seconds.

junhui had supposedly seen minghao with another man.

their lips.

their hands.

their bodies.

junhui’s fist and minghao’s face.

one common similarity? they all made contact with one another.

it was eleven o clock, on the 24th of december (according to wonwoo‘s calendar, which might not be correct. he is a hermit crab after all), and mingyu has yet again fallen asleep on the rock. not wanting his friend to die of suffocation, wonwoo had reached the surface to pull his friend back home for the seventeenth night in a row, probably needing to call some friends to help yank the heartbroken boy back down. prince jeonghan seemed like a nice boy, wonwoo just didn’t know why mingyu was still so damn keen on junhui. i mean, jeonghan’s a prince! who in their right mind wouldn’t marry a prince when given the opportunity?

wonwoo was now debating becoming a merman. or investing his studies on the laws between merman and hermit crab marriage.

but anyways, he didn’t have the time to think about himself at that second, he’d save that for three o clock debating sessions inside his shell.

before he could even manage to place his pinchers onto mingyu’s tanned skin, a wail echoed from the shore. pivoting his eyes, wonwoo had spotted a boy wiping his face on the sleeves of his azure sweater, choking on some form of water that definitely didn’t originate from the sea. the boy looked like an abandoned building, due to crumble to absolute nothingness at any minute. he stumbled as he walked, dragging his feet behind him as he bathed in the reminiscence. from his posture, and his pace, and his stress-head hair, wonwoo would tell that he hated every moment of the walk, and maybe the shadows framed in the transparent walls of the castle were the clues to the case. the boy clearly couldn’t take it anymore, for his knees buckled beneath him, and he fell to the ground alongside his red ringed eyes, which viewed the waves closing in on him. against him as well, he noticed.

“goddammit...” he managed to shiver out, pulling his sleeves over his fingers as he sat on his calves. “does the world like to see me pessimistic?” he took a breath, “why can’t i be happy?!”

the shout startled mingyu awake, eyes immediately locking on the boy and his soft raven nest of hair on his scalp. his body salt running away with his tears instantly made a cocktail in the ocean, spreading his ripples of sorrow across the whole pacific.

he wanted to touch the water again, and feel it rush down his skin.

he wanted to breathe in the ocean air from beneath the waves, and be filled with the sense of homeliness.

he wanted to submerse himself in his past times, and go back home to where he belonged.

but did he really belong anywhere?

minghao clearly didn’t want him, after wearing him out like a used sponge, or a shrunken shirt. then there was mingyu, and although his heart would jump out of his body just to run back to him, all he could think about was him and seokmin. was mingyu cackling about how foolish the older was with seokmin? was mingyu enjoying kissing seokmin more than him? was mingyu creating a future with seokmin instead of him?

he didn’t feel as if he belonged anywhere anymore. no one specifically wanted him, nor cared about him.

he was just another spec of dust, swept underneath the rug once again.

“junhui? is that you?” a voice interrupted junhui’s self-pity session, waving a tiny pair of claws to avert his attention to his direction. junhui had to double take at the minuscule creature for a second. he looked way too familiar.

“...wonwoo?”

“the only and only!” if hermit crabs could smirk, junhui imagines that wonwoo would be showcased said smirk at that moment in time. “where have you been for all this time? we’ve been worried sick!”

“well i was exploring the world and then i met - wait, you said ‘we’?”

“mingyu’s been waiting for you ever since your departure, you know. sometimes he’s fallen asleep on the surface just to see if you notice him.”

“but, but he loves seokmin...what do you mean?”

“you do realise that mermen can get drunk, can’t you?” wonwoo’s claws crossed over each other, “and it was kind of a bachelor’s party before he gave you a gift.”

just like how junhui took mingyu’s breath away, junhui couldn’t find the oxygen to keep himself consistently breathing. “he, kim mingyu, wanted to...”

“be your husband. you ran away a day before he was going to propose, sweet cheeks.” sighing, wonwoo fiddled with his pinchers. “hate to be the one to break it to you, but he really does love you, junhui.”

his instincts told him that mingyu was on that rock that he would avoid looking at, and for the first time in ages, he looked up to it, spotting a vivid figure frantically waving in junhui’s direction. his own ocean began to overflow once again from his tearducts, not hesitating when he stood up and began to run into the sea.

the waters rushed up his trousers, nuzzling against his skin as the transformation process started to roll. as he drew closer to the stone-cold rock that mingyu had been leaning upon for the last few months, he felt his legs gradually being pulled together, tied by an invisible string, so close that he began to waddle before diving into the water. as his body was dipped in the cool liquid, his whole lower half blended out into the tail he had missed for so damn long. shades of plum, periwinkle, ameythst, and mauve were flashed upon the scales, creating a smoothie of colour among the shimmering scales. fanning out by where his feet originally were was a wide spread fin, thin and translucent, filtering the light that undulated from the skies above.

but the best part about his return was that he was in the arms of someone who cared again.

someone who willingly waited for his return.

someone who refused to leave his spot as he anticipated the return.

someone who truly did love him.

kim mingyu.

as his arms idled on the younger’s bare shoulders once again, comfort and peace keeping his heart rate in sync with the other’s, and mingyu’s hands became once again twisted in junhui’s hair, his fingers than ran through his hair resembling the prongs of the dinglehopper, junhui whispered a short phrase into mingyu’s ear. one sentence that would make both of them happier than they ever could imagine.

“yes mingyu, i will marry you.”

junhui was finally home, and like always, mingyu was awestruck.

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is always appreciated!
> 
> ☆thank you for reading!☆


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